WGEE

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WGEE
Broadcast area	Duluth-Superior
Branding	ESPN Radio 970
Frequency	970 AM (kHz)
Format	Commercial; Sports
ERP	1,000 watts (day) 26 watts (night)
Owner	Midwest Communications

WGEE-AM (970), a radio station licensed in Superior, Wisconsin, is also known as ESPN 970. The station is owned and operated by Midwest Communications, which owns six stations in Duluth, Minnesota.

WGEE-AM airs ESPN Radio programming, as well as The Jim Rome Show and Loveline. It's also the local home of NASCAR races and ESPN Sunday Night Baseball.

WGEE-AM's main competition is Clear Channel-owned WEBC-AM (560), which airs programming from KFAN-AM (1130) in the Twin Cities, as well as Fox Sports Radio.

[edit] History

At noon on May 9, 1964, WQMN, a 1,000 watt daytime-only station located at 1320kHz, became the first Duluth/Superior radio station to change its call letters when it became WAKX ("WAX"), playing a Top 40 format. Tac Hammer was WAKX's first program director.

WAKX moved to 970kHz, formerly the home of WIGL in Superior, on October 26, 1967. The 1320kHz frequency in the Duluth/Superior market is no longer in use.

Owner Lew Latto purchased the facilities of beautiful music station KPIR in September, 1974, and began simulcasting the format of WAKX on both 970 AM and the new 98.9 FM.

In 1982, the AM station changed its call letters to KXTP and switched to adult standards, airing the "Music of Your Life" syndicated format. WAKX-FM remained unchanged.

In 1994, Latto sold KXTP and WAKX to Ken Beuhler and Patty McNulty, the owners of WDSM and KZIO (currently KRBR). The FM station flipped from classic rock to country music and became KTCO. Later that decade, Buehler and McNulty sold their stations to Shockley Communications, which changed KXTP's format to country and then Radio Disney. It later changed to Hot Talk, and finally, to Sports.

Today, the station is owned by Midwest Communications which also owns KDAL-AM, WDSM, KDAL-FM and KRBR-FM in Duluth.

[edit] External links

• ESPN Radio
• Website for Midwest Communications
• WAKX history
• WAKX survey from July 28, 1967
• Query the FCC's AM station database for WGEE